In vitro seed germination and growth was carried out with control and ultraviolet-B irradiated seeds (UV-B = 2 hours daily with 1 hour recovery time @ 12.2 kJ m-2 d -1 ; ambient = 10 kJ m-2 d -1 ) of three selected varieties viz. CO-8, NVL-585 and VAMBAN-2 of green gram (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek.) to evaluate the seed viability on culture media for germplasm conservation. Unstressed and UV-B stressed CO-8, NVL-585 and VAMBAN-2 both in dry and wet conditions responded in vitro germination. UV-B irradiation suppressed height of seedlings at both dry and wet conditions in all varieties of green gram compared with respective controls. However, root length of UV-B stressed VAMBAN-2 performed 7.14 % better than control. Shoot length of NVL-585 responded well recording little reduction (4 % and 15.83 %) after UV-B exposure to dry and wet seeds. UV-B stressed NVL-585 dry and wet seeds accumulated less plant biomass (14.57 % and 10.52 %) than their controls. VAMBAN-2 dry and wet UV-B exposure produced equal number of leaves compared to controls.
